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My cup of tea?

Undoubtedly…. a cuppa chai!

A cup to wake me up, a second cup to get me going mid-morning, a third cup in the mid-afternoon for renewed energy to make the last stretch of the day. Chai literally takes me through the day. I am not surprised. Chai can boost your energy while providing many health benefits.

I have listed 5 important benefits of chai here. Some benefits come from black tea leaves, the main ingredient, while other benefits come from the Indian spices used in making chai. These benefits are backed by science—I wouldn’t list them otherwise.

1. Protect Against Free-Radicals, aka Detoxification

Chai has antioxidants. Yes, those hunters of harmful free radicals. Black tea has several of these fighters.

Free radicals are unstable molecules that can cause damage to cells and tissues. One can never completely avoid free radicals. They are formed on exposure to car fumes, sunlight, and even some types of food. They can cause a range of chronic health conditions.

Black tea leaves, that is used for making chai, has polyphenols and other compounds that have antioxidant action. Sometimes called “free-radical scavengers”, antioxidants neutralize free radicals and make them harmless. They can guard against disease, protect your heart and fight aging!

2. Can Help Reduce Weight

This is getting better. The same polyphenols that we talked about earlier helps to reduce weight in two ways. First, it inhibits digestion and absorption of fats from the food we eat—this means fewer calories absorbed from food. Second, it slows down the body’s own fat making and storing process, while at the same time, increasing its breakdown. Wow!!  

3. Can Treat Nausea

Ginger that is used in preparing chai has been shown to reduce nausea due to pregnancy and chemo-therapy. I know for a fact that a cup of chai with ginger helps with my air/road sickness.

4. Can Improve Heart Health

Another ingredient of chai, cinnamon, has been shown to reduce triglycerides in the blood and total cholesterol. There’s more. Cinnamon improves blood glucose and cholesterol levels, and LDL-c (or, bad chloesterol) and HDL-c (good cholesterol) levels in Type 2 diabetes cases.

5. Has Antibiotics

Equals resistance to infections. This is due to the antibacterial and antiviral properties of ginger, cinnamon, pepper and other ingredients of chai.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the health benefits that each of the ingredients provide. Then there is the Ayurvedic side of the story that I haven’t told you about. That qualifies for another chapter. One thing I can say here is that Ayurveda completely supports chai.

How many of these ingredients you want to use in your chai, is really up to you. I like mine with ginger and cardamom, and occasionally, black pepper.

Now, let us make that cup of goodness. Here is the link to the recipe the way I make it.